World Order on Tilt
This is the part of the bingeable political series when someone on the inside finally says No, announcing they can no longer serve in the administration, or banding together with colleagues to go public with their concerns … or something really weird happens, like Congress standing up for Congress. But these days, truth (to the extent that it still exists at all) is stranger than fiction. It’s also worse than fiction. After all, you’d fire the showrunners and writing staff if they came up with a plot twist in which an American president sided with a murderous despot who had invaded an ally and threatened several others; a move that, in effect, implodes the alliances, policies, and values that have maintained the world order for decades. But that’s exactly what is happening, as our American president is lifting sanctions on Russia, throttling satellite speeds available to Ukraine, and seemingly doing everything else he can to turn around a war in Russia’s favor. Tom Nichols sums it up. “Donald Trump has now abandoned pretense and is openly aiding the Kremlin in its war against a friend and partner of the U.S. The American commander in chief has abandoned the Western order, the most successful—and powerful—security arrangement in human history. To judge from the available evidence, he has not done so out of a cold calculation of the national interest. Instead, he has based his decisions on his own interests; his open admiration for Russia’s dictator; his resentment of Ukraine’s democratically elected president; and quite possibly other factors that so far have remained obscured from the American public.” The Atlantic (Gift Article): America Is Now an Ally of Russia. “If Stalin and his Cold War successors could see what Trump and Putin have created, and how the mighty United States has been humbled and humiliated, they might think that their evil hopes were not wrong, but only that they dreamed them too early.”
+ Think this view of things is all part of some liberal hoax? Then you haven’t been paying attention to our show. The current plot is much worse than any of the storylines the alleged hoaxers ever came up with. Don’t take it from me. Take it from the WSJ Editorial Board: (Gift Article): To Russia With Love, Signed Donald. “Mr. Trump waived tariffs for an indefinite period against the top buyers of Russian energy contained in the recent Graham bill passed with big majorities by the House and Senate. The Senate vote was 86-11. His executive order also waives new sanctions on Russian political and military officials, government entities, financial institutions, the energy industry and the shadow fleet Moscow uses for sanctions evasion and other nefarious purposes … Mr. Putin responded Friday night to Mr. Trump’s latest gift with one of the largest attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure in the four-and-a-half-year war. The assault included strikes on more than 15 power generation and transmission facilities. This comes a week after Mr. Trump declared an ‘energy cease-fire’ in the war. Ukraine honored it until it was clear Russia didn’t. Yet the U.S. President blames Ukraine.”
+ “Russian President Vladimir Putin has proposed that he, President Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping meet next month to talk about Ukraine in an attempt to negotiate an end to the four-year conflict that would favor Moscow, said people familiar with the discussions.” Putin Floats a Summit With Trump and Xi to Discuss Ukraine Deal. Trump is paving the way for a new axis of evil, in which America is a member. I’m sure with a love letter or two, Trump can convince Kim Jong Un to join. And let’s not limit the group to heads of state. Intergalactic overlords are welcome to attend. The Telegraph: Elon Musk approached Donald Trump with the idea of slowing down Starlink in Ukraine. “Speaking at the White House on Friday evening, Mr Trump said he did not think either he nor Mr Musk had been responsible for Ukraine losing Starlink access.” Too bad we can’t just unplug it for 30 seconds and plug it back in. Same goes for the world order…
+ …But alas… “There is no reboot mechanism in history; there is no way back to the conveniently binary world of the last century any more than Mr. Trump can realize the illusions of Make America Great Again. The world is moving on.” Serge Schmemann in the NYT (Gift Article): The Old World Order Is Over. This Is What Could Come Next.
+ Heather Cox Richardson: “A former Russian intelligence officer told the reporters that the summit would replace the rules-based international order established by the United States and its allies and partners after World War II with a system that divides the globe into spheres of influence. After ten years of Trump insisting that reports of his cooperation with Russia were a hoax, here we are, watching one profoundly unpopular man tear apart the global system under which we have lived for eighty years in order to climb into bed with Vladimir Putin … Putin confidant Kirill Dmitriev, who manages Russia’s sovereign wealth fund, reposted an AI-generated image of the U.S. eagle standing next to a Russian bear, snarling at a British lion standing next to the flag of the European Union—the U.S. and Russia standing shoulder to shoulder against the United Kingdom and Europe—with the caption ‘Things Have Changed…'”
+ And, as for our upcoming heroic plot twist, there’s this from AP: Trump’s decision to waive Russian sanctions outrages Congress, but no quick counter seen. That’s exactly the kind of showstopper we’ve come to expect.
Pardon My French
“Partial curfews have been issued for a number of French cities, including parts of Paris, after the government admitted police had ‘lost control’ during violent weekend protests around the country.” The upheaval isn’t limited to Paris. It’s not even just limited to France. The Guardian: Why are people protesting across Europe? Here’s the latest, along with photos from the protests.
+ NYT (Gift Article): France’s Far Right Seizes the Moment as Rioting Stuns the Country. And from The Conversation: As French protests escalate into riots, they may prove a gift for Marine Le Pen’s right‑wing party.
Stay Gold Phony Boy
“This is an illegal mine in Madagascar. Its gold is banned from the world’s legitimate marketplace. Thousands of children work in these mines, in violation of international law. Yet Madagascar’s gold flowed easily to market. And the world’s gold authority helped cover it up.” A special investigation from the NYT (Gift Article): The Cover-Up: How a Trillion-Dollar Industry Launders Illegal Gold. “The divide between ‘clean’ and ‘dirty’ gold is an industry fiction. There is just gold. And as Wall Street, central banks and investors stockpile and trade the precious metal, they’re profiting off a supply that includes gold from illegal sources. That matters now more than ever. Two decades ago, when gold sold at about $600 an ounce, it was not profitable to drive mining barges into the deepest parts of the Amazon or use bulldozers to tear up acres of Madagascar rice fields to find gold. The price this year crossed the $5,000 mark. That has made it profitable to mine in inefficient, destructive and politically destabilizing ways.”
Let’s Get Lit Together
“This was the seventh meeting of Lit Out Loud, a group hosting free live readings of literary works performed not by their authors, but by professional voice actors. Founded in January, it hosts monthly events in Manhattan and Brooklyn. Omilabu described the experience they want to create as ‘like an audiobook, but instead of listening to it on your headphones, you’re listening together.'” Bloomberg (Gift Article): The New Literary Night Out Is a ‘Live Audiobook’ Reading. (I read excerpts from my book to my beagles nearly every night. Pro tip for similar lit clubs: I’ve found attendance is higher when jerky is served.)
Extra, Extra
BiBi Cue: “Trump said in a post on social media that Netanyahu ‘has been a Great Warrior Prime Minister, and an even greater Partner for Peace.'” NPR: Trump endorses embattled Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for reelection.
+ Crosswalking the Chasm: “At an intersection in Hyde Park that, days earlier, had been the scene of chaos — a young girl on the ground, a car with a teenage boy on the windshield, a mother screaming — Jonathan Hale led his band of rebels. They were armed with paint rollers.” Risking arrest, he paints illicit crosswalks across L.A.
+ Meta Vendetta? “Meta’s action against No Kings is the latest in a series of ‘errors’ impacting the accounts of Trump critics.” Meta shuts down ‘No Kings’ account during major anti-Trump protest.
+ Return of the Prodigal Sun: “Last Saturday night in the Eastern Sierra town of Lone Pine, Cayden Thompson was hanging out on his friend’s front porch when the two men noticed a pair of what he described as “incredibly bright” beams of light shining down thousands of feet from the mountains near Mount Whitney into the low-slung desert below.” It turned out to be no big deal. Just a startup testing a new product that offers sunlight on demand.
+ Let Them Eat Equity: Elon Musk pledged to donate one share of SpaceX to each of America’s 72 million children. (And only half those kids are his.)
+ Try to Contain Yourself: “The idea of what is essentially a paper bucket dates to 1894, when inventor Frederick Weeks Wilcox was granted a patent for what he called “a new and useful improvement” for pails used to carry oysters. A single piece of material would be folded in such a way that it would have structural stability while also limiting the ways it could leak, and also incorporate a lid.” The American story of the Chinese food carton.
Bottom of the News
“I didn’t make the cut for the Husker drumline. I failed in my freshman tryout to be Lil’ Red. But today, a quarter-century after college, I am finally entering the inner circle of Huskerdom. I have risen from among the red-and-white plebes to become a powerful paladin of Husker Nation. From behind Section 7’s concrete pillar to the skyboxes. I am about to shoot Der Viener Schlinger.” The meat cannon that launched 20,000 hot dogs. (Hopefully, this cannon doesn’t rely on high-speed Starlink access.)
